Stapling machines



Feb. 28, 1956 E. H. COLE STAPLING MACHINES Original Filed July 25, 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR ATTo/zlvmg Feb. 28, 1956 E. H. COLE STAPLING MACHINES '3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed July 23, 1951 ATTORNEQ Feb. 28, 1956 E. H. COLE 2, 36,0

STAPLING MACHINES Original Filed July 23, 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENmR ATTORNEE United States Patent STAPLING MACHINES I Edward Harold Cole, London, England Original application July 23, 1951, Serial No. 238,087. Divided and this application November 6, 1952, Serial N 0. 319,042

Claims priority, application Great Britain August 2, 1950 6 Claims. (Cl. 1-3) This invention relates to stapling machines, and is a division of my copending application Serial No. 238,087 filed on July 23, 1951. The expression stapling machine is used herein to denote like machines such as stitchers, also various types of stapling machines are known for stapling together articles such as papers, some kinds of fabrics or films or sheets of various materials or for stapling price tickets to garments and like purposes.

According to the present invention a stapling machine of the kind in which a staple magazine assembly and a staple driver lever are pivotally connected is characterised by a safety catch which locks the driver lever and staple magazine in fixed relative angular positions.

The safety catch is for engagement when the machine is not in use and prevents staples from being half-charged into the staple exit channel, while also preventing injury to the user while charging fresh staples into the machine. The safety catch also acts as a retainer for the staple magazine to retain it in a housed position within the driver lever.

Another feature of the invention relates to the driver lug for transmitting the thrust from the staple driver lever to the staple blade. This is made readily replaceable when worn out and is of such a construction that it requires no screws, threads, tapped holes, or spot welding to hold it in place. This is effected by making it a press fit in a slot in the front of the staple driver lever.

In order that the invention may be more clearly understood reference is made to the accompanying drawings wherein one form of stapling machine made in accordance with the invention is shown.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of one form of stapling machine.

Figure 2 is a rear perspective view.

Figure 3 is a fragment showing the slide member and its control cam.

Figure 4 is a perspective showing the base, yoke and staple core mechanism with the driver lever removed.

Figure 5 is an end view of the stapling head partly in section.

Figure 6 is a fragment showing the catch for the stapling head.

Figure 7 is a fragment showing the driverlug construction.

The stapling machine comprises basically two parts, a base unit and a stapling head unit.

The base unit comprises a base plate 1, a hinge member 2 and an inverted U shape yoke 3.

The base plate 1 is longitudinally slotted at 4 and formed with a recess in which is positioned a flat strip 5 of resilient strip metal connected to the hinge member 2 by studs 6 passing through the slot 4. The hinge member 2 is longitudinally movable between two positions which are determined by the engagement of the round headed rivet 7 with the two alternative apertures 8'in the forward end of the strip 5.

The forward end of the base plate 1 is reduced in thickness and is stamped to produce an integral anvil 9 having pairs of depressions 10 therein adapted to bend the legs of a staple inwardly or outwardly. By moving the hinge member 2 between its two alternative positions, the stapling head unit can be brought into register with the desired pair of depressions 10 (the forward position of the stapling head being shown in broken lines in Figure 1).

Although it is well known to achieve the same effect by means of a rotatable anvil formed with eccentrically located depressions, the present construction is considered superior, since by having the anvil integral with the base plate, the danger that papers may catch under the base and get folded over is obviated.

The yoke member 3, to which the stapling head unit is actually attached, is pivoted to the hinge member 2 by the pivot 11. The yoke member is provided with an outwardly directed flange 12 (Figure 2), adapted to be supported on the base plate 1. The yoke member-3 is preferably formed with means to retain it in the position shown in Figure 2 against upward movement relative to the hinge member 2 except under relatively great force.

The yoke member 3 acts as a mounting for a staple driver lever 14 and a staple magazine assembly 15, consisting of a staple core and associated parts, which together with the lever 14 support and complete a stapling head unit of basically conventional design. The lever 14 and staple magazine 15 are mounted on a common pivot 16.

I The lever 14 is normally urged towards a raised position by the leaf spring 17 secured within the lever by studs which are tapped into the bottom of the operating knob 19, thus securing both these parts to the lever 14.

The leaf spring 17 bears against a bridge piece 18 on the yoke 3 and the normal efiect of the spring 17 would be to rotate the lever to a position in which the weight of the lever and associated parts balances against the stress in the spring.

The angularity of the lever 14 relative to the yoke is however controlled by an adjustable member which acts as a stop to prevent the spring 17 fully raising the lever.

This adjustable stop member is comprised by a slide member 20 which has an end formation adapted to contact a lower bridge piece 21 on the yoke 3.

The slide member 20 has a rectangular aperture therein which engages with an operating member 22. It will readily be appreciated that the effect of the spring 17 will be to press the bottom edge of the aperture in the slide member against the operating member 22 and that the elfective height of the lever from the base is governed by the distance between the axis of the member 22 and the bridge piece 21.

This distance is varied by providing cam formations on the member 22 and in the present instance these take the form of four fiat faces 23 eccentrically formed on the shank of the member 22 (see Figure 3). The member 22 is rotatably mounted in an aperture in the lever 14 and is provided with an operating portion 24, which also serves as an indicator to index with markings on the outside of the lever 14 to indicate High, Medium and Low positions of the lever. It will be observed that two of the faces 23 have the same amount of eccentricity. This is done so that there is a "Medium" position between High and Low irrespective of the direction in which the member 22 is turned.

The slide member 20 is relatively rigid and is pressed out of fairly heavy gauge sheet metal. It is rounded at its bottom end to provide a yoke contacting portion 25 adapted to bear against the bridge piece 21. At its top end it is formed with a tongue 26. The slide member 20 is pressed against the inside of the lever 14 by means of a leaf spring 27 held in position by astud tapped into a hole in'the bottom end of the member 22.

grasp-24 This arrangement allows the slide member to be moved longitudinally of the inside of the lever 14. To move the slide member 20, it is desirable to depress the lever 14 so as to take the slide member out of contact with the yoke bridge 21. The slide member then moves very easily.

The staple magazine, indicated generally at 15, is of more or less standard construction and comprises inner and outer U-shaped members and 31, which are spaced apart slightly to form a narrow chamber to receive staples, along which staples are urged towards the front end by means of a slider 32, urged forwardly by a long tension spring 33.

The member 30 is provided with upwardly extending cheeks 34 which serve as bearings for various associated parts. The front end of the staple chamber is normally closed by a pivoted member 35, which is adapted to be swung upwardly as shown in Figure 6. The bottom end of the member 35 is formed with recesses 36 to engage with latch formations 37 carried by the inner core known construction to prevent the staples being ejected when the end member 35 is swung out of the way. This comprises a pivoted lever 42 carrying a small toothed wheel 43, which is normally held clear of the staples by the pressure of the member 35. When this is released the spring 44 swings the lever 42 down to bring the toothed wheel 43 into contact with the staples and this is sufiicient to check the outward movement of the staples, although fresh staples can be inserted from the front end of the chamber.

The lever 14 and staple magazine assembly 15 are normally urged apart by a leaf spring 46, the position of the staple magazine assembly being determined by a hook member 47 which engages with the end of the pin 48, which also anchors the end of the spring 39 (Figure 6). The hook member 47 is formed with a toe 47a which engages under thepin 48 and at its inward end the top edge of the toe 47a forms the bottom edge of a recess 47b. The hook member is movable between two extreme positions by means of a knob 49, which is mounted on the end of a pin 49a projecting through an arcuate slot 50 in the lever 14. In all positions of the hook 47 the toe 47a is effective to limit the downward ,movement of the staple core assembly relative to the lever 14. When the pin 48 is engaged in the recess 47b as shown in Figs. 1 and 6, the staple core assembly and the lever 14 are locked relative to each other. When the pin 48 is then disengaged from the recess, the lever staple whichmay have become jammed in the guideway.

The machine is completed by a blade 52 of conventional shape which is adapted to be moved downwardly from the position shown in Figure 1, in the staple guideway left between the front end of the member 31 and the end member 35. This guideway must in operation be in register with one of the pairs of depressions 10. The

.guideway in conjunction with the blade 52 forms the staple head proper. The blade 52 is apertured near its top end and is suspended looselyon the driver lug 53 and retained thereon by means of the end portion 54 of the spring 46, so that it can move freely along the driver lug during movement of the lever 14 relative to the magazine assembly.

The driver lug 53 is turned out of and milled from case hardening steel rod, having a lug proper for engaging the blade 52. By the novel method of fixing the lug used in the present construction it is possible to locate the lug in the desired position without the use of any bolts particularly used for this purpose. The head end of the lug is grooved, and this groove is of such dimension as to leave a portion which is a tight press fit in a groove 55 formed in the front of the lever 14, which is also formed with a cut-away portion at the top to leave room for the operative portion of the lug 54 to pass. In the position shown in Fig. l the wheel 43 is held out of engagement with the staples by reason of the engagement of the part 42a against the rear surface of the blade 52, which is in turn pressed against the member 35 by the pressure of the spring 4212. When the member 35 is moved to the position shown in broken lines, the force of the spring 42b is sufiicient to force the loosely mounted blade 52 to move outwardly and thus permit the wheel 42 to descend to engage the staples.

I claim:

1. In a stapling machine in combination a staple magazine assembly, a driver lever and a staple blade member guided in said staple magazine assembly to drive the front staple contained in said magazine assembly, said blade member being driven by the driver lever, said driver lever being arcuately movable relative to said staple magazine assembly, and locking means for locking said driver lever and said staple magazine assembly against any movement relative to each other in a relative angular position in which the bottom edge of said staple blade is raised above the position of the front staple in said staple magazine.

2. In a stapling machine in combination a staple magazine assembly, a driver lever pivotally mounted relative to the staple magazine assembly and a staple blade member connected for drive to the driver lever and guided in the staple magazine assembly to drive the front staple contained in said magazine assembly through angular displacement of the driver lever, and a locking member mounted on one of said driver lever and said magazine assembly and movable into and out of engagement with a formation on the other of said driver lever and said magazine assembly to lock the driver lever and said magazine assembly in fixed angular relation with respect to each other with the bottom edge of said staple blade member raised above the position of the front staple in said staple magazine.

3. A stapling machine including a staple magazine assembly, an inverted U-shaped driver lever pivotally mounted relative to the staple magazine assembly, a blade connected to the driver lever and slidable in the staple magazine assembly through angular displacement of the driver lever to drive the front staple in said staple magazine assembly, spring means arranged between said driver lever and said staple magazine assembly urging said lever and said staple magazine assembly apart, a hook member pivotally mounted inside said driver lever and having an operating knob extending outwardly through an arcuate slot in a side of said driver lever to permit limited angular movement of the hook member, said hook member having a toe formation engaging under a fixed formation, carried by the staple magazine assembly, to prevent outward relative movement of the staple magazine assembly, said hook member being also formed with a recess adapted to be engaged or disengaged from said fixed formation and so arranged as to lock the staple magazine assembly against movement inwardly of the driver lever so as to maintain the bottom edge of the staple blade above the position of the front staple in said magazine.

4. In a stapling machine in'combination a staple magazine assembly, a substantially inverted U-shaped driver lever having an enclosed front end formed with a slot extending downwardly from the top thereof part of the way to the bottom of said enclosed front end, a driver lug located in said slot, said driver lug having a head portion formed with a peripheral groove, the sides of which engage with the material adjacentthe sides of the driver lever slot, an operative portion of said driver lug projecting inwardly of said enclosed front end, said driver lever being pivotally mounted relative to said staple magazine assembly, a staple blade guided for movement in said staple magazine assembly, said staple blade being slotted to engage with said operative portion of said driver lug to drive the front staple in said staple magazine assembly, and locking means arranged between said driver lever and said staple magazine assembly forlocking said driver lever and said staple magazine assembly in a relative angular position in which the bottom edge of said staple blade is raised above the position of the front staple in said staple magazine.

5. In a stapling machine, in combination, having a substantially inverted U-shaped driver lever, the said inverted U-shaped lever having an enclosed front end formed with a slot extending downwardly from the top thereof and a driver lug having a head portion formed with a peripheral groove adapted to engage with said slot an inwardly extending operative end for engagement in an aperture in a staple driver blade to transmit movement from said lever to said blade, part of the top of the lever adjacent said slot being cut away to allow the operative end of the driver lug to pass through the top of said lever during insertion of the head of said lug into said slot to effect engagement of said lug with said lever.

6. In a stapling machine in combination a staple magazine assembly, a driver lever and a staple blade member guided in said staple magazine assembly to drive the front staple in said magazine assembly, said blade member being driven by the driver lever, said driver lever being arcuately movable relative to said staple magazine, said magazine assembly including a movable end member to permit access to the front end of the magazine, and locking means for locking said driver lever and said staple magazine assembly against any movement relative to each other in a relative angular position in which the bottom edge of the staple blade is raised above the position of the front staple in said staple magazine, whereby the blade may be locked clear of the front of the magazine during recharging.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,264,322 Maynard Dec. 2, 1941 

